Nonprofits Should Adopt For-Profits' Performance Measurement Rigor, Says New Book

Wolk said many organizations publish annual reports that track budgets and
client numbers, but far fewer undertake the challenge of measuring social
impact-uncovering and reporting, through hard data as well as personal stories, their progress towards realizing their mission.

For example, Root Cause found over the last three years that all of the
applicants to its Social Innovation Forum whose statistics it tracked used some
form of measurement, such as financial health and client growth, but only
one-third of them were engaged in meaningful measurement of social impact.

Root Cause is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Cambridge, MA, that
advises innovative nonprofits and educates social impact investors. CEO Wolk has advised numerous organizations dedicated to social impact; authored publications on nonprofit business planning, performance measurement, and the intersection of government and social entrepreneurship; and holds appointments at Harvard
University and MIT.